Newport News, VA train #66

[Nick M]

I goto school in the Norfolk, VA area and since May of this year, I've been using Amtrak to visit my girlfriend however I was using Wilmington to DC. Now that I am at school, I am using Newport News' train station. I have only used the station once and had a nightmare experience with the train having to get repairs right next to the station making the train three hours late. I noticed the same train had the same delay last week so I am afraid I will have to deal with the same thing come this friday when I use it. Should I worry?

 

[Acela150]

First suggestion is that if you're getting off after NYP take 66 in Business Class. I don't know if you're still going into WIL. You shouldn't have to worry about it. You've just had a case of bad luck. But make sure to be there at least 30 minutes in advance of your departure in both cases. North and South. Maybe even a hour. But don't worry about it. You should expect to depart on-time. Fill us in on how your trip is/was.

Steve

 

[George Harris]

First suggestion is that if you're getting off after NYP take 66 in Business Class. I don't know if you're still going into WIL. You shouldn't have to worry about it. You've just had a case of bad luck. But make sure to be there at least 30 minutes in advance of your departure in both cases. North and South. Maybe even a hour. But don't worry about it. You should expect to depart on-time. Fill us in on how your trip is/was.

Steve

Uuh, Steve: He is not going north of New York Penn. He is going Newport News, Virginia to Wilmington DE. Also, unless is is much flusher than most of us were as college students, business is not an option. Cheap is important.

Nick: have no idea about the chances of breakdonw.

 

[Trogdor]

There's no need to arrive at the station an hour before departure. Getting there 30 minutes before is plenty of time.

 

[Acela150]

I only said an hour as WIL is under construction and doesn't have a arrival/departure board now. But that's me. I don't really know WIL that well so I'd get there a hour ahead. If I take Acela FC or a long haul train I arrive at CA about a hour to hour and a half ahead of departure. That way I can enjoy CA or the ML's at CHI or PDX. If it's a smaller station like NPN 30 minutes is good. But that's my views on station arrival.

 

[George Harris]

Acela 150, you do going to the station like my wife We generally get to the SF Ferry Building to catch the bus across the bay to Emryville at least 30 minutes ahead, even with ticket already in hand. Less than 20 minutes is cutting it too fine even for Caltrain in her mind. I have spent a lot of time at airports waiting for planes to leave. In fact, I have thrown in the towel and just say, we will check in, go through security and get a meal.

This being said, my thoughts on getting there are:

With no baggage, unless Wilmington is Airport sized, 20 minutes or so should be plenty to figure out where the train will be. However for a simple place like Newport News would be, parking lot to platform walking plus 5 minutes should be enough.

 

[Trogdor]

At WIL, there's only one platform that Amtrak uses. Once you get into the station, you can walk up to the platform in less than two minutes (if you have heavy luggage and/or need the elevator, add a couple more minutes pad, as the elevator can be a bit slow).

I can't think of any Amtrak station in the country where you would need to arrive an hour early, unless you're checking bags, or unless it's super-extremely busy and you don't already have your tickets (ticket lines can be a bit long).

I don't even arrive that early when I'm boarding in Vancouver and have to go through the immigration check.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

At WIL, there's only one platform that Amtrak uses. Once you get into the station, you can walk up to the platform in less than two minutes (if you have heavy luggage and/or need the elevator, add a couple more minutes pad, as the elevator can be a bit slow).

I can't think of any Amtrak station in the country where you would need to arrive an hour early, unless you're checking bags, or unless it's super-extremely busy and you don't already have your tickets (ticket lines can be a bit long).

I don't even arrive that early when I'm boarding in Vancouver and have to go through the immigration check.

I would say you might need 1 hour if your going to use New York Penn Station for the first time. Since the track gets posted 15 minutes before hand you want to be set and ready before they make the announcement. Then hmmm okay now that I think about it I guess even NYP could be done in 30 minutes. Closet connection I've ever made to Amtrak was 15 minutes between an NJT train and the Ethan Allen Express. On NJ transit amazingly I have made a 4 minute connection on more then 1 occasion.

 

[Steve4031]

At WIL, there's only one platform that Amtrak uses. Once you get into the station, you can walk up to the platform in less than two minutes (if you have heavy luggage and/or need the elevator, add a couple more minutes pad, as the elevator can be a bit slow).

I can't think of any Amtrak station in the country where you would need to arrive an hour early, unless you're checking bags, or unless it's super-extremely busy and you don't already have your tickets (ticket lines can be a bit long).

I don't even arrive that early when I'm boarding in Vancouver and have to go through the immigration check.

I would say you might need 1 hour if your going to use New York Penn Station for the first time. Since the track gets posted 15 minutes before hand you want to be set and ready before they make the announcement. Then hmmm okay now that I think about it I guess even NYP could be done in 30 minutes. Closet connection I've ever made to Amtrak was 15 minutes between an NJT train and the Ethan Allen Express. On NJ transit amazingly I have made a 4 minute connection on more then 1 occasion.

It depends on the person. However, I prescribe to the hour ahead of time rule. That gives you a cushion in case of something going wrong on the way to the station. I got casual with Chicago Union station and almost missed a train. I arrived about 30 minutes before departure only to find the quick track machines not working. Got in a slow moving line for the tickt window. If they had not called passengers for my train to move to the front of the line, I would have missed it. I really was not paying attention, because I was not even stressed. So I am back to being careful.

 

[AlanB]

At WIL, there's only one platform that Amtrak uses. Once you get into the station, you can walk up to the platform in less than two minutes (if you have heavy luggage and/or need the elevator, add a couple more minutes pad, as the elevator can be a bit slow).

I can't think of any Amtrak station in the country where you would need to arrive an hour early, unless you're checking bags, or unless it's super-extremely busy and you don't already have your tickets (ticket lines can be a bit long).

I don't even arrive that early when I'm boarding in Vancouver and have to go through the immigration check.

I would say you might need 1 hour if your going to use New York Penn Station for the first time. Since the track gets posted 15 minutes before hand you want to be set and ready before they make the announcement. Then hmmm okay now that I think about it I guess even NYP could be done in 30 minutes. Closet connection I've ever made to Amtrak was 15 minutes between an NJT train and the Ethan Allen Express. On NJ transit amazingly I have made a 4 minute connection on more then 1 occasion.

It depends on the person. However, I prescribe to the hour ahead of time rule. That gives you a cushion in case of something going wrong on the way to the station. I got casual with Chicago Union station and almost missed a train. I arrived about 30 minutes before departure only to find the quick track machines not working. Got in a slow moving line for the tickt window. If they had not called passengers for my train to move to the front of the line, I would have missed it. I really was not paying attention, because I was not even stressed. So I am back to being careful.

I'm with you Steve, I go for the 1 hour rule. Especially since I'm relying on other public transit to get me to the station on time, and that doesn't always work perfectly.

It probably doesn't hurt things however that I can go wait in the nice Club Acela lounge while waiting for my train.

 

[George Harris]

Since the track gets posted 15 minutes before hand you want to be set and ready before they make the announcement.

Is it that much now? I thought it was less. It has been a long time since I caught a train there, but I was of the impression that the track was posted more like 5 minutes before departure time.

 

[AlanB]

Since the track gets posted 15 minutes before hand you want to be set and ready before they make the announcement.

Is it that much now? I thought it was less. It has been a long time since I caught a train there, but I was of the impression that the track was posted more like 5 minutes before departure time.

At NYP the norm is that the track number is posted 10 minutes before the departure of the train at least as far as the rider is concerned. The actual scheduled departure time is 1 minute later than the advertised.

I have on occasion seen an NJT train have its track posted 2 or 3 minutes earlier than normal and I've seen Amtrak's LD trains also on some occasions have their track numbers posted earlier than the norm.

But again, the general rule is 10 minutes and they don't vary that very much.

 

[gdj]

I goto school in the Norfolk, VA area and since May of this year, I've been using Amtrak to visit my girlfriend however I was using Wilmington to DC. Now that I am at school, I am using Newport News' train station. I have only used the station once and had a nightmare experience with the train having to get repairs right next to the station making the train three hours late. I noticed the same train had the same delay last week so I am afraid I will have to deal with the same thing come this friday when I use it. Should I worry?

I just checked the last few weeks performance of 66 between Newport News and Washington and the average was 11 minutes late, but that was factoring in the one major delay. It is usually on time or very close to on time into DC. Also with the long layover in Washington, they have the ability to make up a lot of time. One time I was on 66 and we arrived an hour down in Washington. We still left for Boston on time.
Gary

 

[Shawn Ryu]

I took 66 from DC to NYP, but it was 2 hours late.

 

[palmland]

No sure if this has any impact on boarding times at Newport News, but I was on 67 a couple weeks ago. They are now reducing train size south of Washington due to platform work in Newport News. As a result there was only 4 coaches that were quite full as well as a business class/cafe car. To get a seat for my short ride I grabbed a spot in the combined business class/cafe car. I heard the crew talking about some unusually switching required in Newport News. This and the platform work may impact boarding, but don't know the details. In any event, I'd advise getting business class seats.

 

[rvm]

I ride this train two or three times per month out of Richmond Main Street Station, which is two stops north of NPN. It's usually on time, or it it's late, not by more than an hour. One exception: After heavy rain on the east coast, the #67 was several hours behind schedule, and since that train turns around in Newport News and becomes #66, my trip to New York got started about 3-4 hours late. Very unusual delay, though.

The train will move very slow from Main Street to Richmond Staples Mill due to track condition, but north of Staples Mill, it picks up speed.

Always a layover Washinton to switch from diesel to electric.

 

[Nick M]

Thanks again guys. I forgot to say that I will not be using the Wilmington station this time around and will just be going to Ashland, VA. I will let you guys know how everything went friday night. I've done a tad bit of research and talked to Amtrak and they said that the cases that it has had a monstrous delay was because of hitting debris (I don't know what that is about) and CSX traffic.

 

[abcnews]

Ashland is a great place to catch a train. Plenty of free parking and an landmark vintage station. It really captures the charm of classic rail travel. If possible, I alway try to board in Ashland.